Interchangeable spouting system for automatic mills



1,490,622 N. M. MILLER INTERCHANGEABLE SPOUTING SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICMILLS April 15 1924.

Filed Anril 8 1920 FIG.1V.

' attorney,

l atented -Apr. E5, 1924..

i F F E PATEN'? NICHOLAS M. MILLER, 03 ELOQMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

ENllEElEmEANG-EABLE SPOUTING- SYSTEM ESE AUTOMATIC MILLS.

Application filed April 8,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, llrorromls M. MILLER, a citizen of the United Statesof America residing at Bloomington, in the county of McLean and StateofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inInterchangeable Spouting Systems for Automatic Mills of which thefollowing is a specification.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a system ofpiping or spouting serviceable in any manner of milling plant such asgrain flour, rice and spice mills for conducting the separated grades ofthe product to suitable points for packing or shipment, the constructionbeing easy of installation and inexpensive to manufacture.

A further object of the invention is to provide spouting system forgraded milling products arranged in separable parts adapted fordisassembling at will to be reassembled to effect difierent paths oftravel for the products the parts of the piping system being adapted formanufacture and sale to the trade as separate elements for readyassembly at the milling plant.

A still further object of the invention is the provision or"interchangeable spouting for a mill having conducting and joint portionsas well as sight and hand-hole mem bers readily assembled in a mill andthrough the floors thereof by unskilled workmen, whereby the cost ofinstalling a mill piping system is greatly decreased when consideredwith the decrease in price of the material comprising the system due tomanufacture of the separate elements thereof in great quantities forselling in sets to the mill owners.

With these general objects in view the invention consists in the novelcombination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described inconnection with the accompanying drawings and in which like referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,

lln the drawing,

Figure 1 is an elevational View of my spouting system installed in amill through the floors thereof with parts broken away,

Figure 2 is a sectional detail view showing the floor connectionillustrated in Fig. 1

mac. Serial at. 372,267.

in connection with the concrete floor of the mill.

It being understood that my system of: spouting or conducting pipe isserviceable in any form of mill or similar plant, wherein the spoutingmay be carried to any desired extent depending upon the size andcondition of the mill, the invention will be described as an example orillustration of the system in connection with adjacent floors 10 and 11of the mill, formed of concrete and wood respectively. In many millsgraded milling products are produced by milling machines, each of whichproduces bv separation different grades of product and my system isespecially serviceable in selectively collecting the different grades ofproduct from milling machines upon diflerent floors of the mill andconducting the aggregated separate grades to convenient points for useor shipment.

Pipe sections or tubing such as 12, 13 and 14; are provided in differentlengths for at tachment together or to flexible connections by pipeconnectors 15 in the form of sleeves having tapered threaded portions 16adapted for tightening upon pipe sections by means of lock nuts 19. Balland socket con-- nections are provided between the piping such as 13 and14 consisting of a socket casing 20 removably secured to a pipe such as13 by an arcuate flange 21, a socket flange 22 being threaded within theopen end of the casing 20 for engaging the ball portion or oia ballcoupling having a stub pipe 25. The. stub pipe 25 is attached to theadjacent end of the spouting or tubing 14 by one of said pipeconnections 15 heretofore described.

Serviceable connections for the pipe at opposite sides of a door areprovided of slightly different forms for concrete and wooden floors asillustrated in detail in section in Figs. 5 and 1 respectively. Theupper ends of the pipes 13 and 14 being both carried through theconcrete floor 10 in an identical manner, the elements of suchconnection as illustrated in Fig. 5 will be referred to by similarreference characters. A ceiling connection or ball pipe 26 has a collar27 threaded thereon with a threaded portion 28 of the ball pipe securedwithin a threaded sleeve 29 firmly embedded within and extending throughthe concrete floor 10. A socket pipe 3O having a similar collar 31threaded thereon is provided with a threaded portion 32 secured withinthe upper opposite end of the sleeve 29 bringing the bores 33 and 34 ofthe members 30 and 26 respectively in vertical axial alinement.Perforations 35 in the collars 27 and 31 are employed for tightening theball and socket members upon the ends of the sleeve 29 with said collarsclosely engaging the opposite faces of the floor 10. One of the pipeconnections 15 is provided for connecting socket pipes or joints 36 tothe upper ends of the tubes 13 and 14 for mounting upon the ballportions 37 of the ball pipes 26 in a manner substantially the same asillustrated in Fig. 2. Socket flanges 38 are carried in threadedengagement with the casing portions 39 of the socket pipes 36 While lockscrews 40 may be employed for preventing rotation of the flange portionsof the socket pipes whenever desired.

Tubes such as 12 are connected to ball or stub pipes 41 above the floor10 by the pipe connections 15 and it will be understood that the pipingmay be continued indefinitely through the mill by joining spout sectionsor tubes together in the manner described. In carrying the spoutingthrough a wooden floor such as 11, the sleeve 29 may be omitted and asocket pipe 42 provided with a collar 43 threaded thereon above thefloor 11 secured by bolts 44 to a similar collar 45 threaded to adepending ball or stub pipe 46, it being understood that the members 42and 46 are in substantial axial alinement extending through a verticalopening 47 in the floor 11. It will be noted that all of the stub orball pipes are preferably depending members wbether carried by the floorconnections or the tubing 12, 13 and 14 and being in position forclamping reception within the adjacent upwardly projecting cooperatingsocket pipes, the manner of effecting the connections having been fullydescribed.

In connecting tubes such as 14 between the ceiling connections 26 andeither floor connections orconnections to other tubes such as 13, theball and socket joints are readily positioned at the required angle andthe tube sections brought into substantial end engagement with theopposite joint members whereby the pipe connections 15 may be readilyclamped over the abutting members securing the spoutings together. Itwill be understood that it would be diflicult to connect the spoutingmember by screw threads when assembling the system, and this is obviatedby the pipe connectors 15. With the upper or ceiling joints connected,the flange portions such as 22 of the ball and socket joints areadjusted upon the ball nae eaa members 24 drawing the tubes suchas 12,13 and 14 into their rigid positions. Upon the end faces of the tubes ofthe system I provide sight glasses 48 at suitable elevations to bereadily viewed by workmen upon the fioor beneath to ascertain whetherthe product is properly flowing through the tube, a removable hand-holemember 49 being provided upon the upper side of any tube such as 13 forready removal to extract a quantity of the product flowing through thetube.

The cost of installing the spouting systems in a mill includes the costof materials and also labor in making and assembling the spoutings, andthe gist of my invention is the provision of means for savingconsiderable expense for both material and labor by manufacturing all ofthe separate elements of the system in large quantities for selling tomill owners who may readily install the same in a mill by the aid of theusual mill employees. The elements of the system such as the tubes aswell as the joint connections may be formed of metal such as steel,fiber such as rubber, pasteboard or other material depending somewhatupon the kindi of product derived from the mill. The system wheninstalled has a neat and finished appearance providing dust tight meansfor conducting the product from the milling machines to desirabledistance points readily viewable and sampled at the will of theoperator. The tubes 12, 13 and 14 are easily and quickly disassembledfor removing the pipe couplings 15 and the entire system may be againreconstructed by reassembling to conduct the products along differentpaths. The tube connections through the floors are also readilyremovable as will be evident from the foregoing description thereofwhile the socket casings 20 as well as the sight glass member 48 andhand-hole members 49 are readily attached from the tubes upon which theyare mounted for replacing at different points upon the same or similartubes whenever reassembling the system. My system will perfectly carryout the objects enumerated for my invention, and while the form thereofherein set forth is believed to be a preferable embodiment thereof, itwill nevertheless be understood that changesmay be made therein inproportion, size, material and details of construction without in anymanner departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new is 1. Ceiling and floor connections for millspouting systems comprising ball and socket pipe members positioned inaxial alinement through the floor. and collars threaded upon saidmembers.

2. A floor and ceiling connection for spouting systems comprising athreaded sleeve adapted. for securing through a floor. ing carried bythe flange, an annular arouball and socket pipe members threaded withate member threaded in the outer open end 10 in opposite ends of thesleeve, and tightenof the casing, and a stub pipe having a ball ingcollars for said pipe members threaded portion at its free endpositioned within 5 upon the latter. said arcuate member.

3. A ball and socket member for spouting In testimony whereof I afiix mysignature. systems comprising an arcuate flange adapted for attachmentto a spout member, a cas- NICHQLAS M. MILLER

